It wasn’t your regular summer for your normal college student, but then again, Tamara Bowie isn’t your regular college student.

A 5-foot-11 forward for Ball State, Bowie was recognized as the top player in the Mid-American Conference last year as a sophomore, which makes her only the fifth player in league history to be bestowed with that honor as a second-year player.

Tearing up the competition last year in the MAC, Bowie ranked first in the conference in field goal percentage (.584), second in rebounds (8.4) and third in points (18.3). With those lofty statistics, there were few weak points in Bowie’s game. But she managed to find one, and decided to correct it during this off-season.

“I went to a job fair at our school one day,” said the junior from Michigan. “I was just going around and I just happened to go to the Army booth and they handed me the brochure. I was pretty curious about it and the sign said, ‘Learn leadership skills.’ And that was the one thing that I needed to work on most, so I took that into serious consideration and that was really what helped me make my final decision to do their summer boot camp.”

A normal college student doesn’t have much free-time during the summer, let alone one of the nation’s best student-athletes. But when Bowie saw a weakness in her game, she set her mind on fixing it.

“There are a lot of things that I deal with better now [after boot-camp],” Bowie said. “It has helped me with my confidence a whole lot.”

When asked to decipher a feasible way to stop her on the basketball court, Bowie thought long and hard, and said, “Before, I would say, ‘get in my head to stop me,’ but now that just isn’t going to work.”

Bowie’s coach for the Cardinals, Tracy Roller, is very pleased with what her player has taken into her hands to improve upon for the upcoming season.

Roller thinks that “Boo,” as she refers to her, feels she has the potential to be one of the all-time greats in the MAC.

Last year, Bowie’s regular season was highlighted with a performance against Eastern Michigan where she scorched the nets to the tune of a career high 40 points. But to Bowie, that is just another step on her way to excellence.

“I was just playing basketball, I seriously didn’t even know that I had 40 until the end of the game,” said Bowie. “It just came natural.”

With “natural” abilities like that, one would presume that the WNBA wouldn’t be too far off in her future, but Bowie doesn’t want to get ahead of herself. Saying she is just focused on her college career now, she doesn’t discredit her dreams of playing in the WNBA someday.

The first year head coach, Roller, however, is looking ahead a little stronger to the future for Bowie. And she realizes that exposure is a big part of Bowie taking that next step to the pros. That is one reason why she has scheduled national power UConn on the Cardinals schedule, in addition to what she calls a rigorous conference slate.

“I think the more exposure our league gets in general, it will definitely give our players in the MAC the opportunity to put players in the situation to make the WNBA,” said Roller. “I think Boo has the athleticism to play on that level and I think that the UConn game will help a lot if she has a great game against them. She is only a junior so she has another year to grab some more people’s attention.”

One person she already has caught the attention of is Mark Ehlen, coach of the reigning MAC regular season champion Toledo Rockets.

“Holy cow! Bowie is tremendous in so many ways,” said Ehlen, a seventh year MAC coach.

Another venue that will help Bowie in her way into the nation’s and WNBA’s eye is that she will continue this basketball season where she left off last year. Writing a weekly diary on ESPN.com.

While Bowie will have plenty to write and a busy schedule ahead, Roller feels that she will be hard-pressed to repeat the type of year she had.

While being named a Kodak honorable mention All-American (the only player returning with that honor), Bowie led the Cardinals to a school-record 19 wins and tied a school mark for most wins in league play with 11 wins.

Standing at just under 6-feet, Bowie’s game thrives on her versatility.

“Her athleticism, her scoring potential, her rebounding ability, she can do it all,” said Roller. “She can play virtually any position if she wanted to on any given night.”

And she just might be asked to do that, as Roller would love to put that versatility to good use. However, Bowie is not all that Ball State has, as they return all five starters. A contender for the MAC title, they were voted second in the West Division while receiving 16 first place votes.

Bowie still has Jan. 12 circled on her calender because that’s when her and the Cardinals head into DeKalb.

“Northern is a great program and they’ve grown a lot,” Bowie said. “I have yet to beat Northern at Northern in my career. They are young and I think they will learn a lot and grow as a team. But a big goal of mine is to beat Northern this year.”

NIU will have to be ready when Bowie and the Cardinals come rolling into town later this year, because it won’t be like any other game. After all, Bowie isn’t your normal college student.